Computer oriented folks - HELP please -

[Mr.Krusher]

First I will say that I'm not a computer oriented person. I have been steadily learning about PhotoBucket and downloads and those things, but I still get tense and confused about much of it.

Does anyone have any insight into buying a domain name? I had mentioned it to my wife on her way out today and she said - "It's not a big deal, you just find a site that sells them and buy one." But I'm having a little trouble. I did a Google search and got what seemed like millions of 'places' selling names. Many of them say things like "secured" and "accepts all major cards and PayPal", but damn, I'm certainly not going to spill my personal information to just anyone. How do I know if they are reputable? How can millions of dealers be selling the SAME 'name'? This is all very confusing to me - Not to appear bleak, but certainly many of these sites must be shady and scummy, yes?
I only want to buy a ' .com ' and set-up a little thing. I have some pictures and information that I have been saving here and there and I'm only aiming for a small site. It will mainly serve as a page or two of resource information and little more - no forums or features or anything like that.
This will be a very new venture for me.

Oh, and in the case of say, and old toy, (NOT a company name mind you) if the copyright hasnt been renewed or the property has gone into limbo, there should be no need for any worries as to things like copyright infringments?

I suppose the worse that could happen would be a 'cease and desist' notice, in which case I'll comply.

Any information is already greatly appreciated everyone, thanks -

[Anarchy]

years ago Domain Names, Web Hosting and Online Marketing Services | Network Solutions was the only place you could buy a name. however, there are a bunch of places now that are good and legit, network solutions is good however probably the most expensive. You can also buy names from Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy
, they seem good and cheap to buy the name but I really would not host with them, in my experience they seem very slow. You can even go through hosting ciompanies to buy a name and they will set everything up for you.

A couple i have dealt with.

Dedicated Servers, Web Hosting, Virtual Private Servers, Business Hosting and Web Design Since 1996

Windows Web Hosting ASP.NET Coldfusion MX Web Hosting

[megoapesnut]

I use Godaddy for all my domain name purchases. We have a Linux hosting system at work and I use it to host my domains. We used Godaddy for hosting before we got the Linux box and had no problems.

[Anarchy]

yeah i buy most of my names through godaddy i just dont use their hosting, to me its slow

[Brazoo]

I've used godaddy for setting up hosting and accounts for clients. They're rates are very good and their customer services is very helpful and 24 hours. I highly recommend them.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

If you're looking to register a NEW name you can do that at your provider. Mine costs about $20 a year. And a friend of mine swears by GoDaddy.

>if the copyright hasnt been renewed or the property has gone into limbo, there should be no need for any worries as to things like copyright infringments?

Well.... that's a tricky one. There are all sorts of weird twists that can go down. (I wish I had a link to the candyland.com trial....)

Don C.

[generic]

I've heard good things about Godaddy, but I've never used them. I started out with Network Solutions and still have two accounts with them, but for years, I've been using Dotster for the rest of my domains.

Since you're new to this, I should mention that there are two parts to a website:

The domain name - which you basically rent by the year &

The server space for the website:
1. You could own your own server (only practical for huge amounts of space)or
2. Rent space from someone else or
3. Use free hosting like angelfire which puts ads on your site or
4. Sometimes you have a small amount of free space with your internet provider

If you wanted to use a free site like angelfire, you could just get the domain name and pay to have it forwarded to the free site (which I've done in the past and it works nicely).

If you're not concerned with the specific URL and don't mind something bulky like http://www.angelfire.com/tv/3amegos/ you can get that for completely free. They make money by putting ads on your site. This URL is my old site with another member here. Although it's terribly out of date, you can check it out to see what you can do for free. You don't even need to give them very much in the way of personal information. Basically, you just need an email address.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions with any of this. I'm no expert and don't know anywhere near as much as some of the guys here, but I have been building websites for over 10 years.

[generic]

Oh, and in the case of say, and old toy, (NOT a company name mind you) if the copyright hasnt been renewed or the property has gone into limbo, there should be no need for any worries as to things like copyright infringments?

If you're worried about posting photos of old toys, that's not a problem. If you're worried about buying a url with the name of an old toy, you're probably fine if the domain name is available, but there have been cases where problems have occurred. It just depends on whether or not the company still holds the trademark and, probably more importantly, if they want to bother with contacting you. Regardless of what content you post on your site (as long as it’s not illegal content), if there’s ever a problem, the first thing that will happen is they’ll just send you a cease and desist.

[ctc]

>you could just get the domain name and pay to have it forwarded to the free site

A friend recommends this anyhoo; that way if you switch providers you can just take everything with you.

Don C.

[Mr.Krusher]

Wow - is there anything that you folks here DONT know??

Big thanks to everyone. Well, I checked 'GoDaddy' and the name that I want IS available. I believe it's $12. I know that there is a yearly fee, billed to PayPal I'm assuming, (?) but what of this "web hosting" and "server space" ? And as to the buying process, is it just as simple as filling out the personal information form and sending them a payment via PayPal, or?


Maybe I'm in over my head here - I thought I just bought the name and that was that, no? I mean I know that I want to have pictures and information, but thats really about it. I have learned recently how to 'link' things and how to 'transfer' photos from one place to another, but thats about the extent of my knowledge sadly.

Thing is, I know as much about constructing a website as I do about quantum physics.

Thanks again everyone -

[Hulk]

GoDaddy is by far the largest and most reliable of the Domain Name sellers. I recommend them for that wholeheartedly. You can go the PayPal method or a major credit card.

I use them for webhosting as well, and it is easier to deal with one company for domain and hosting services for beginners, although I am sure there are many reputable and probably even better hosts for a website than them, but I like keeping this kind of thing in one basket.

They do have a good template based web design product called Website Tonight for creating a quick, professional and cheap site easily. But the suggestions for forwarding the domain name to another host/site etc are just as valid, and they will be happy to help you on their customer service line, just beware of their upsell. All service calls are a chance for them to sell additional services. Trust me, I know, I worked for them (and still recommend them).

[generic]

...Thing is, I know as much about constructing a website as I do about quantum physics. ...

Seriously, as I mentioned before, if you need any help, just let me know.